Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Some things are so important that they must be done, even if at first we cannot do them well. We can never become good at what we don't work at. There must be a willingness to try, to practice, to improve, to become. We must give our imperfect best, and in so doing, our best will eventually become perfect.
"I propose that self-esteem becomes a nonissue for the person who is perfecting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ . . . So many issues that revolve around the subject of self fade like the dew in the sun as one cultivates faith in the Savior. Without him, nothing else matters. No amount of self-esteem or anything else can adequately fill the void. . . One who practices faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will find relief from the stresses and anxieties of the pursuit of self-esteem." ~M. Catherine Thomas, Selected Writings of M. Catherine Thomas, 237-50.
"We can be so cruel to ourselves; we destroy ourselves wit our negative self-talk. We see only the raw material, much of it yet undeveloped, and we block from our awareness many already godlike qualities in us. We throw a wet blanket over all this divine fire. We steadfastly ignore the fact that many of our goals have been accomplished by our exercising godlike qualities: sacrifice, discipline, creativity, perseverance, love, faith. We decline to acknowledge the divinity that is developing in us through the challenges that life has already presented to us for this very purpose. And we are ready to argue - in a most ungodly way - with anyone who tries to tell us something to the contrary. This refusal to accept our developing divinity is a sort of blasphemy and a denial of the purpose of the plan of salvation; it diminishes the effectiveness of our service and inhibits our full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no real settled contentment, no real enlarging of the soul to meet great opportunities and possibilities, until we find our own divine fire." ~M. Catherine Thomas, Gospel Scholarship Series, 254.
"God is your Father. He loves you. He and your Mother in Heaven value you beyond any measure. They gave your eternal intelligence spirit form, just as your earthly mother and father have given you a mortal body. You are unique, one of a kind, made of the eternal intelligence which gives you claim upon eternal life. Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of you to reach your fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of godhood." ~Spencer W. Kimball, "Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters," Ensign, November 1978, 105.
"The work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to 'bring to pass the ... eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39) is an eternal work. Not all problems are overcome and not all needed relationships are fixed in mortality. The work of salvation goes on beyond the veil of death, and we should not be too apprehensive about incompleteness within the limits of mortality." ~Dallin H. Oaks "Powerful Ideas," Ensign, November 1995, 26.
"I do not believe that any man lives up to his ideals, but if we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying , to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty. If we are seeking to remedy our own defects, if we are so living that we can ask God for light, for knowledge, or intelligence, and above all, for His Spirit, that we may overcome our weaknesses, then, I can tell you, we are in the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal. Then we need have no fear." ~Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, 184-5.
"How can we as imperfect, though improving, individuals know that the Lord is pleased with the course our lives are taking? The Lord's pleasure is manifest by the gift of the Holy Ghost endowed upon each of us. In addition to providing revelation and guidance, the presence of the Holy Ghost is an indication to each of us that our lives, though still needing much improving, are headed in the right direction, and thus pleaseing to the Lord. The comfort and peace that accompanies the Holy Ghost encourages continued progress down that same path that has brought us to this point." ~Richard K. Scott, Celebrating Celestial Marriage, 144.
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ. . . And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father." ~Moroni 10:32:33)
1 comment:
I really needed that first paragraph today. thank you.
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